Defending Yourself Effectively - Advanced

Part #1 of "Defending Yourself Effectively" covered the basics of defending, and those can apply throughout the whole span of a world. What will be taught below will be things that you normally won't see until the 2nd or 3rd month in a world and on-wards.

1. What's the purpose of this incoming attack?

• Once at the 2-3 month point, there is a whole new way of thinking when it comes to attacks.
• They can be used as fakes or to test your online times. Other times they are to catch your LS in harbor while your supposedly sleeping
• Ask yourself the question of "why now?" Did they break your cave and are coming to wipe out your troops? Is it a fake or a probe?
• Is it a CS TT? If there is just the one CS, perhaps it is a fake CS (1 sw, 1 LS, 1 ST, 1 CS) to distract me, or its just a person who doesn't know what their doing... 
• Check the points of the attacking player, and then of the attacking city. If it is a 2000 point city, the attack will be pretty small and nothing much to worry about.

2. What do I have in range to counter it?

• By this time you should have a fair number of BR's and a city or two strictly devoted to DLU's.  Find what you can get there in time if need be.
• Check your alliance's intel for knowledge about the attacking city. Has this city attacked someone else before? This can really help you on deciding on what to do.
• If the attack ends up being a LS nuke, what are the TT of my LS nukes to that city to chase it home and kill it?

3. How do I respond?

• As a general rule of thumb, I normally dodge attacks that aren't a CS but have a TT of over 5 hours.  This TT puts them in the class of a 2nd line city, so not one that I'm willing to take a large risk to try and kill off as they are far enough away that I'll have long time to prepare for their arrival.
• Be mindful, are other people under heavy attack near your city? In that case, the attack might be to try and get you to worry more about defending yourself than the person that is really being attacked. This is a common tactic as it does add confusion and just 5 decoy's like this can easily steal defense from the main targets where they are really needed.
• Can I cast wisdom on the attack? Sometimes this just ends up being a waste of time as it isn't a big attack, but, it then allows to you more precisely determine what your doing to do about the attack. Dodge it or try and destroy it.

4. If it is one of my frontline cities that is attacked, is it prepared to withstand an assault?

• An attack of slingers hitting a wall of 2000 swordmen behind a lvl 25 wall will be slaughtered, so when possible, stack your defense, you are stronger, and will kill more for less loss on your part.
• Much discernment is needed when it comes to determining if you need more than you already have stationed in a frontline city. A common tactic is to fire off a small attack at random cities to suck up valuable LTS in preparation for a large attack in another area.
• Make sure your wall is up to lvl 25 and you have a tower built if you are attacked frequently
• If the attacked city is one that has offense built in it (which is the kind of city that people go after most frequently) make sure the troops or the LS will be away when the attack hits. (Support or attack one of your other cities, or send them to a friends city till its safe to return them)

5. Myth - The more aggressive you are, theoretically, the more you'll be attacked...

• This isn't always true, and it serves to deter a surprising number of people from really getting out there and being aggressive. I found that the more I attacked others, the less I got attacked myself. Being aggressive shows the enemy that your active and are willing to fight and after testing the waters for a while, they'll leave you alone for the most part.
• Leaders look for the players that are aggressive and that are go-getters. If you just sit around waiting for the enemy to come to you, you won't end up helping your alliance out much. 

6. How can I efficiently keep the enemy from attacking me?

• Its fairly simple. Keep track of their offensive cites (OLU or LS nukes) and try to pick them off with your own. To be safe, you'll need to send in LS nukes ahead of your OLU nukes as they might set up a BR wall before you get there. Best time to do this is when their sleeping if you know that, but with the attack alarm this isn't very likely anymore. :( If you can get their offense with yours, the ratio of loss will be a whole lot less, and will be MUCH cheaper for you in theory as offensive units have horrible defensive stats. So remember...

Don't Panic!

 & 

The Most Efficient Defense is a Strong Offense!